Anchor Institutions

Founded in 1701, Yale University has grown to be New Haven’s largest employer with over 13,000 full-time workers. As the primary supporter of New Haven Promise, Yale provides up to $4 million a year to public school graduates who attend a state college. It also built, and now runs, the Dixwell-Yale Community Learning Center, which provides educational programs and meeting space for the community. Since 1990, the university has contributed over $40 million to community economic development initiatives and $28 million to help more than 1,100 of its employees purchase homes in the area.

Established in 1928, the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven strives to create positive and sustainable change in the Greater New Haven region by increasing and enhancing the impact of community philanthropy. The foundation manages over $530 million in charitable assets, and in 2015, made roughly $24 million in grants and distributions, making it the largest grantmaker in the area.

Stat news highlights the importance of the Hospital toolkit as shows how "providers can channel their $340 billion annual purchasing power into disadvantaged communities. Currently, only about 2 percent of that money flows to businesses owned by minorities and women." ...Read More

For individuals to achieve upward economic mobility they must live in a supportive neighborhood with, among other things, high quality primary care and good public schools. But even when the key ingredients of success are present, households often find it hard to navigate services. A variety of intermediaries help address that problem.

Some are “embedded” in such organizations as hospitals or schools and help clients to obtain a range of supplementary services. Examples include Health Leads, City Health Works, and Grand Aids, along with local community health workers and school nurse programs.

Others are the result of hospital-led population health systems. Examples include the Parkland Health system in Texas, the Montefiore and the Mount Sinai health systems in New York, and Washington Adventist Hospital in Maryland.

Others still are organizations linking together institutions focused on the same goal by providing data sharing services, financing, or organizational support. Examples include community development financial institutions, but also integrated service systems, such as the Harlem Children’s Zone that organizes wraparound services for the families of its school students.

While intermediaries help households and can add value, they also face challenges in their operations. Often they are underfunded because budgets do not reflect their broad community value. Many regulatory and technical barriers impede information sharing with intermediaries, which is necessary to credibly show improved outcomes. There can also be a clash of culture between intermediaries and other organizations.

Policymakers in both the public and private sectors need to address these challenges so that intermediary institutions can demonstrate their value and fulfill their crucial role.

This article provides case studies of the role of three community foundations in facilitating the establishment of community development collaboratives to galvanize support for local community development corporations (CDCs): the Cleveland Foundation, the Dade Community Foundation, and the Greater New Orleans Foundation. Sentiments about community foundation support or influence upon CDC activity captured from person-to-person interviews with CDC staff and community foundation personnel and board members are included, in addition to secondary data documenting the character and activity of community foundation assistance. The article offers lessons drawn from the three cases. Although it makes no broad generalizations, the article concludes with some recommendations for community foundations interested in community development collaboratives as a means of supporting local CDCs and identifies some areas for future research.

Like a stone thrown into a pond, every purchase creates a ripple. Unintentionally or intentionally, every decision to purchase causes not one, but multiple transactions affecting the community’s capital, whether social, environmental, cultural, structural, human, or economic.

Work remains to build a system of national parks and monuments that tells the stories of all Americans by reflecting the full scope of the nation’s history and meeting the demands of a diverse population.

Over the last 50 years, every U.S. president has worked, in some fashion, to address healthcare spending while improving the fundamental healthcare conditions for those in need. As healthcare leaders we often think in terms of three- to ve-year plans. But if we think about the next 50 years, it brings into question ‘what’ and ‘how’ the investments we’re making now in our communities — whether new facilities, programs or initiatives — will impact the public by 2064.

Diversity is becoming a key word in health care. Hospitals and health care systems are focusing on providing care that addresses the diversity of their patient populations. To better care for diverse patient populations, hospitals are working to increase the diversity of their leadership team, board and staff. And many hospital teams are building a culture of diversity and inclusion, to better engage all employees and provide high-quality, equitable care for all patients.

Diversity is becoming a key word in health care. Hospitals and health care systems are focusing on providing care that addresses the diversity of their patient populations. To better care for diverse patient populations, hospitals are working to increase the diversity of their leadership team, board and staff. And many hospital teams are building a culture of diversity and inclusion, to better engage all employees and provide high-quality, equitable care for all patients.

As integral parts of the community, health systems are in a powerful position to further social change.

Anchor institutions, such as hospitals and universities, can be important catalysts for urban economic and community development. They can take on a variety of roles—from community infrastructure builder to purchaser of local goods and services to developer of real estate. With the passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), nonprofit hospitals and other health care institutions have new obligations and opportunities to embrace their role as community anchors by pursuing activities that focus on addressing the comprehensive health needs in their communities. In the years to come, health care institutions can become more actively involved in supporting the development of safe, decent and affordable housing, a key social determinant of health. This brief describes those opportunities and provides specific guidance for how affordable housing and community development organizations can successfully partner with anchor institutions to improve neighborhoods and expand housing opportunities.

Every day, we learn more about how patients’ health outcomes are tied not only to the healthcare they receive but also to the conditions in the communities where they live. Social and economic inequities, amplified by race, often emerge as the leading factors explaining differences in health outcomes and life expectancies.

Through local and inclusive hiring, health systems can invest in an ecosystem of success that lifts up local residents; helps create career pathways for low-income, minority, and hard-to-employ populations; and begins to transform neighborhoods. In the process, health systems can develop a more efficient workforce pipeline, meet sustainability and inclusion goals, and ultimately improve the health of their communities. Establishing a local and inclusive hiring strategy is an important first step towards rethinking your health system’s role in the community. This toolkit can help you get started.

This article highlights an exciting partnership developing in Albuquerque, New Mexico among universities, hospitals, and local government that will help align healthcare institutions' resources toward community local hiring and sourcing. The inspiration for this alliance lies in Cleveland, Ohio with the Evergreen Cooperatives, a group of worker cooperatives pioneered by The Democracy Collaborative in the effort to democratize the local economy:

Several large anchor institutions in Albuquerque, New Mexico have adopted the local procurement practices pioneered in Cleveland, Ohio by The Democracy Collaborative and the Evergreen Cooperatives, helping galvanize the hospitals' resources and purchasing power to redirect wealth and health toward the community:

The Democracy Collaborative's initiative to align hospitals in an effort to improve community health by increasing local hiring practices is taking root in Albuquerque, New Mexico, as the city engages with a team of large healthcare institutions committed to promoting and utilizing the strategies in the toolkits released as part of the initiative: